"This is a step to extend a hand to the Cuban people, in support of their desire to determine their own future."

Dan Restrepo, the senior director for western hemisphere affairs at the National Security Council, as he announces President Obama's decision to lift some U.S. policy restrictions against Cuba

"Unilateral concessions to the dictatorship embolden it to further isolate, imprison and brutalize pro-democracy activists."

Representatives Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart, in a joint statement in response to the Obama Administration's Cuba announcement

In another sharp break with the Bush White House, the Obama Administration announces it will allow Cuban Americans unlimited travel to the island nation and money transfers to relatives there, though the trade embargo remains in place.

Late in the day, a three-judge panel rules that Democrat Al Franken is the highest vote getter in the Minnesota Senate race and should be granted an election certificate. Franken delivers triumphant remarks outside his home, saying, "It's long past time we got to work." Opponent Norm Coleman vows to appeal again.

The President also tells reporters he's "resolved to halt the rise of piracy" off the African coast, a day after the U.S. captain held hostage for days is rescued. The Somali pirates vow to retaliate for the deaths of three of their comrades, with one telling the Associated Press, "In the future, America will be the one mourning and crying."